Gopal Issues Support For Redevelopment Funding In Asbury Park
Murphy Outlines Opportunity Zoning & UEZ Extension Could Add 10 Years To Stalled Program
Senator Vin Gopal Wednesday issued support for two measures that would help fund redevelopment in Asbury Park.
First up is Gov Phil Murphy’s designation of two Opportunity Zones in Asbury Park.
Under federal guidelines, eligible opportunity zones are census tracts with a poverty rate of 20 percent or a median family income of up to 80 percent of the area median but Gov Phil Murphy was authorized to include up to 25 percent of the state’s eligible low-income census tracts. In total, Murphy put forth 169 opportunity zones across the state, including Asbury Park, Freehold Borough, Long Branch, Neptune City, Neptune Township and Red Bank.
“I am grateful to Gov. Murphy for including these Monmouth County communities in the Opportunity Zone Program,” Gopal said. “I am confident this initiative will encourage long-term capital improvements in each of these communities and in turn, generate economic growth on a local level.”
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Established by Congress in 2017, the Opportunity Zones are a community based development program that is aimed at encouraging long-term investments in low-income urban and rural communities nationwide. The program provides a tax incentive to investors.
‘The City is pleased that two census tracts [shown at right in purple] were recommended by the Governor for inclusion in his request for the federal designation,” City Manager Michael Capabianco said. “While the City had requested the entire city [shown also at right in green] be recommended for inclusion by the Governor in his submittal to the Treasury, we are hopeful that the established zones will continue to help the city grow.”
The two tracts include the most westerly portion of the southwest neighborhood and south of Sunset Park to the Ocean Grove border in the southeast section of the city.
Next up is the revitalization of the stalled Urban Enterprise Zone [UEZ], a redevelopment funding program that offered everything from reduced tax credits to debt financing and project improvements in blighted areas.
First enacted in 1983, the UEZ program was aimed at fostering economic revitalization and also was used to fund the purchase of new fire trucks, façade improvements for local businesses, the Main Street Farmer’s Market, a marketing program for the city and website design, development and maintenance services, and small business loans.
Funding stopped in 2010 but now a bill [S846], which cleared both the Senate and Assembly on April 5, could mean revitalization of the funding for another 10 years, just as the city reaches an uptick in redevelopment in its southwest neighborhood.
“The Urban Enterprise Zone has helped attract new businesses to Asbury Park, allowing this iconic Monmouth County community revitalize its ever-growing business district,” Gopal said in a written statement. “Today, Asbury Park is a destination community with a wide variety of successful restaurants, shops, boutique hotels and other local businesses. It is impossible to discuss the growth of Asbury Park without acknowledging the key role its designation as an Urban Enterprise Zone has played.”
The program extension means that qualified business that participate in the program can continue doing so for another 10 years. Currently, there are 27 active zones in 32 municipalities.
The bill has passed the Senate and is now up for consideration by the Assembly.
In Asbury Park the UEZ guidelines meant:
100% sales tax exemption for specified materials and tangible personal property
Qualified retail businesses may charge 50% of the 7% NJ sales tax (3.5%) on certain “in person” purchases
One-time corporate tax credit of $1,500 for each new full time employee who is a resident of Asbury Park and has been unemployed for at least 90 days or dependent upon public assistance
Subsidized unemployment insurance for certain new employees with gross salaries of less than $4,500 per quarter as per Department of labor schedule.
Tax credit against the Corporation Business Credit of 8% if investment is an approved “In Lieu” by the Urban Enterprise Zone Authority and City of Asbury Park
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